Enola Yarn – blogpost 7

After contemplation, I decide to wear the sentinel shield we found in the kings’ tomb. It is heavy but feels safer, so I waddle out of the tomb wearing it. We think of a destination to go next, I prompt the Wizard Academy, but via the normal way – no portals involved. We walk for a while and find a way down to the seventh level! 

We see this is a level with tunnels and that there won’t be many wide areas. Aiden lights his thorn whip to draw arrows on the walls so we know where we’ve been in the future. Farryn makes them light up like fireflies. We walk further and Farryn suddenly stops dead in his tracks. There are two cave bears up ahead. He wants to attack but Aiden refrains him from doing so. We have to sneak past according to Aiden, but the cave bears are quite territorial. Farryn sneaks after Aiden but his vials tinkle so much the bears start closing in on them. Aiden turns around and calms the bears: we are allowed to pass them, but the bears are still protective of something. In the distance, we can spot two tiny bear cubs sleeping in the dark. 

Valentine and I walk in front, and we enter a large space with a high ledge, but I cannot see very far. Valentine pulls me back and describes a very large creature – white with a flute in his hand. I think for a second, but don’t know what it could be. Farryn thinks Valentine is just exaggerating and walks past us. Valentine also discovers a white mini-castle on a mithril pole in the middle of the room. We try to sneak past the giant creature: it is a Stone Giant. Valentine casts fly on herself, Aiden, and me, and we pick up Farryn from the ground and fly to the white castle. The castle is not getting closer, but is growing in size! We want to enter, but there is no stone in front of the door to stand on, so we land on the roof. We see the courtyard in the middle: it has trees, a statue, grass, and shrubberies. 

The whole time flying, Farryn was struggling and cursing. We wonder what is up with him, he constantly disagrees with us, he wasn’t like that earlier. Valentine ties him up and Aiden rubs herbs on Farryns’ face and performs atonement but nothing happens. I give it a go by placing my hand on Farryns’ face as well and cast remove curse. Suddenly, Farryn relaxes and his eyes look different. He thanks us and tells us that ever since the mirror in the treasury of the king, he hasn’t felt quite himself. I ask Valentine to remove the rope, but she doesn’t want to do it. We rock-paper-scissors for it, and I lose. I get annoyed and slap her with a mage hand, and she slaps back. This goes on for a couple of minutes until Aiden burns the rope and mends it before giving it back to Valentine. 

We decide to descend to the courtyard using feather fall. We see the statue of a fat wizard up close – he is called Maddgoth and wears a helmet with fins and reads from a spellbook. Valentine reads it and tells me I can copy whatever is in there. It is the spell arcane sword – I place a scroll on the stone and make an imprint with some coal and a piece of parchment. We try to knock on a couple of doors to get into the castle. It feels abandoned so we just open one with knock. We hear a cackle and an arcane sword appears that Valentine dispells with a snap of her finger. We enter a hallway and find our way to the kitchen and a dining room – the pots and pans move by themselves and cook a meal for us. As we sit down in the dining room, we hear a small bell and four dishes fly out and place themselves on the table. Aiden wants to check if the food is poisonous, but Valentine starts eating right away. Luckily, the food is okay, and we all eat and feel better after. Aiden proposes to find our host in this giant castle. Valentine immediately casts thaumaturgy and yells: ‘HELLO?!’ We get no response. 

We explore other rooms: we see a clay oven, a room with clay artworks, and some other chambers; but no host. Aiden feels the host must be upstairs, so we follow him. On the third floor, he points to a door – we hear stuff breaking on the other side. We open the door and see a humonculous busy ruining the room. We thank him for dinner, but he gestures us to go away violently. He doesn’t seem friendly – or the host of this castle. We close the door again. 

With thaumaturgy, we try again to call the host: ‘HELLO MADDGOTH?!’ Colored smoke appears around us and makes us feel happy and a bit high. I feel someone pushing me in the back, I think Valentine is messing with me again, so I reprimand her – but she isn’t doing anything. Aiden feels it too: there must be something invisible here. I try to detect the thoughts of the creature but only hear a chuckle. Valentine casts dispel magic and we see a little dragon laughing on the ceiling.